Overview of Hugh on PostgraduateForum.com

Overview of Hugh

Signup date: 12 Mar 2010 at 9:38am

Last login: 24 May 2017 at 8:31pm

Post count: 1264

Recent Posts

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Btw how long have you all allocated for your supervisor's feedback on the first full draft thesis?

One month?

Quote From Zutterfly:
[quote]

I am doing integrated results/discussion (my thesis is in the social sciences) so I tend to state the finding then discuss the finding throughout so I can't really offer advice on that front :/ The proportion of data that I have had to leave out of my thesis is more than what is included within the thesis which leads me to worry that in the viva, examiners will mention something that I have not included in the final thesis but that is sitting in my 'notes' documents.

I think me too. My supervisor is of the opinion that less says more. But I do get his point, because one of my chapters was 20,000 words and that is difficult to read.

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

I'm struggling with having lots of results but not able to include all of those in the discussion ... or else it'll be a lengthy discussion, difficult to read and digest ... I wonder if its ok to leave some things in results without bringing them in the discussion?

I'm very nearly free... Viva tomorrow

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Congratulations and well done! :)

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Chickpea, that's wonderful news, well done! :)

Yes it's just the section of the final findings chapter! I'm dreading the overall discussion though I hope it'll be easier than this. I'm sat with it now and already started procrastinating, I find I start procrastinating when I either find something too challenging or just too boring/repetitive!

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Hi all, how are you all doing? I am currently writing up the discussion section for my final chapter and it's proving much more challenging than I had anticipated! There's so many findings and prior relevant literature. Also teasing out findings as opposed to just results is much more challenging I suppose. Anyone else found the discussion section most challenging?

I'm very nearly free... Viva tomorrow

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Good luck Eska, all the best for tomorrow!

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From chickpea:

I used key terms to get me started, but I didn't plough through all the results systematically - I just started reading papers that seemed to be the most relevant and followed different references from those papers, then went back and did slightly different searches and so on. How did you approach yours? I must admit I didn't have the patience to do a systematic review, when there can be thousands of results and you can see at a glance that most of them are not really relevant!

I did the same as you too. I found "cited by" check (on google scholar) especially useful too.

I am formally writing up my literature review chapter next month and I think I'm going to give the systematic review option a miss too.

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From chickpea:
Oh, the literature review/how much to read seems like a bit of a minefield! I wrote a literature review in my first year, and am leaving it pretty much til the end to update, so that I'll be able to go back over papers without having too many other tasks still in the way (that's the theory, anyway!). I think that as long as you make it clear that you only reviewed papers up to a certain cut-off date, it doesn't matter if something spectacular came along after that date. My problem is that I wasn't very systematic with my initial gathering of the literature, and followed trails of stuff that interested me rather than going through all the results for my key terms, so I think I have some plodding literature searches still to do!

Anyway - hope you all have a good Easter weekend :)

Thanks, you too :)

I've noticed more and more students are now doing systematic reviews of literature (with key terms in databases) rather than doing it traditionally and free flow. Is that what you did?

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Well done! Hope you have a super weekend :)

Yes, I have to keep looking at literature too. I haven't actually formally written up my literature review, though I have obviously referred to literature in my discussions in various chapters. It was left towards the end because my field is still evolving. It does make it challenging, because I'm going to have to keep going back and updating discussions that I had written a good while back with up to date literature. There's also the fear of missing something. Tbh I skim read papers and pick out and copy what is relevant to me into a separate document, and then concentrate on the relevant parts only.

Final year support thread

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From Zutterfly:
Is anyone taking the Bank Holiday weekend off? I am allowing myself a long weekend if I hit the quarter-way point of this findings chapter tonight!

Yes, I'm taking next week off too, and not touching any work or emails. I'll probably do some work tomorrow morning and then want to take a nice long break :)

I am a strong believer in taking regular breaks and holidays.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll make it! :)

Would you write a recommendation letter for a old PhD candidate?

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From shapib:
How do you convince a professor to write you a recommendation letter, even though it has been more than 10 years since you counted as one of his students?

I have reached a virtual dead-end in my professional career, and without further education, I will not be considered for any meaningful positions. Hence, I have decided to pursue a PhD. As you all well know, at least two well written recommendation letters from academia are a must for any successful application.

The problem is that I am relatively old now (37), and have not had any contact with my lecturers in graduate school for almost 10 years. Some of my professors still teach at my old University, though I doubt any of them, except for my thesis advisor really remembers me. What I do got going for me is that I can show for a strong Master's degree, having graduated summa cum laude, 10 years ago.

How would you even approach a potential recommendation letter writer? Who would you choose and why?

Start with your thesis advisor first. Maybe meet him for a coffee/cake and explain your situation. He can then always ask his colleagues to write a recommendation letter for you too.

Mobile version of this forum or App?

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From Mark_B:
Hi Hugh.

It's certainly something I can pass on to our IT team. So I have!

Thanks :)

Aston or Canfield? Ph.D. in Management

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Quote From rlc52:

Quote From Hugh:
Hi Ric, I can't comment on the difference between the two institutions (hopefully someone else can help), however, one of the most important things is the right supervisor, see this: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/10-truths-a-phd-supervisor-will-never-tell-you/2005513.article

Thank you Hugh. That's very helpful. In addition, do you know whether the reputation of the institution where I complete a PhD would have an impact on an academic career?

It's hard to say tbh. Ask on this forum the same question in your opening:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=100

Mobile version of this forum or App?

Hugh 1264 posts
8 years ago

Hi,

Is there a mobile version of this forum or does it work on an App? It's really frustrating trying to post through a mobile with the full website.

Thanks